Reuben Cabot: 4/20/97, Part II
I handed Kasee a couple of the fruits and we went around to the other mages. We had no problems until we got to Walks All Paths. When I offered his the fruit, he turned up his muzzle. I tried to coax him, but he wouldn't take a bite. The old woman walked up to him, patted him on the head, and walked into the woods. He lifted his head suddenly and looked me in the face, and I knew he could see again.
Once we had everyone restored, we talked briefly about what just happened, where Mary went, and who the other girl was. We had no good guesses, really. The sun was going down, though, and I had a thought that we probably didn't want to spend another night here.
I heard a rustle and turned to see Dog picking up one of the fruits. "Dog? Whatcha doing?"
He didn't say anything, just continued to peel the fruit (not eating it, thank heavens) And pulled out some of the seeds that were inside. He walked to the where the fire had burned itself out and pushed the seeds into the ashes. With almost comical speed, a tree grew from the seeds. As we stared at the tree speeding upwards, a circle of fire suddenly sprang up around us. Kevin said, "I guess someone doesn't want us to wander."
The tree filled out and reached up to the sky. Before we went anywhere, I decided to use some of the quintessence I had stored up to heal my burned arm, which was starting to throb. It was amazingly easy, and in no time my arm looked as good as new. I looked up at the tree and realized that it contained many fruits like the ones the girl had produced. I turned to Renee.
"Um, Renee?"
"Yeah?"
"I probably don't want to take any of these fruits, do I?"
She looked up doubtfully. "I wouldn't."
I nodded. "That's what I thought."
*Well, Dog, now what?*
*We have to leave this place, and the only way out it to climb, it would appear.*
*Do you have any idea what these fruits are? How did you know to plant the seeds?*
Curiously, he remained silent. Hmm. I wasn't sure what to make of that.
I returned my attention to the others. "It looks like the only way out of here is to climb."
Eric nodded and started up the tree. The branches were spaced so it was actually a very easy climb. We climbed up, one after the other, and continued for several minutes. Curious - we should have reached the top of the tree, but at this rate it was as if the tree were several hundred feet tall. Eric paused for a moment, and the rest of us stopped behind him.
"Wait just a minute," he said. "Let me try something." He closed his eyes and mumbled something, and suddenly I felt a tremendous force lifting me upwards. I was slapped by a few branches, then I blacked out.
I opened my eyes and blinked as snow blew into them. I was lying on my back, looking up at a gray sky. Looking at many snowflakes falling from a gray sky, actually. I slowly turned my head, only to have my view obstructed by what looked like a fur-lined hood. I slowly sat up and looked around. We were lying in a small valley between two snow-covered ridges. It looked to be around midday. I did a quick headcount and saw we were all here, including Dog, scattered in a small group in the snow. Someone else was sitting up as well, shaking their head. I couldn't tell who it was, since they, like me and everyone else, were bundled in furs.
I reached out to Dog. *Hey guy. Where the hell are we?*
I got the equivalent of a mental shrug. Actually, I was just happy he could talk to me.
*Can you shift here?*
*Just a sec. Let me see.*
Suddenly one of the fur-covered forms collapsed in on itself and rolled over a few times. It took me a minute to realize that Dog had shifted to dog form and gotten trapped in the furs. I started laughing.
He shifted back to human form, and once he restored the furs around him, glared at me. *You did that on purpose.*
I laughed some more. *No, really...* Then ducked when he threw a snowball at me. He shucked his furs and shifted to dog form quickly before the cold hit him.
I stood up and brushed some of the snow off with glove-covered hands. Well, at least we were attired for the weather. The others had gotten up as well, and were taking in the snowy vista around us. I noticed that we had even been supplied weapons, in the form of short, brutish clubs.
Suddenly, a shout came across the valley. "You there!" I looked up the ridge to see a small group of people, wrapped in furs as we were, also holding clubs. Eric started muttering and the light around us seemed to dim. He stopped muttering long enough to say, "I've bent light around us to hide us. I don't know how much good it will do, though."
Not much, really. They'd seen us and were coming down to investigate. Walks All Paths and Kevin went out to speak to them. One of the group, the man in charge apparently, approached the garou. "So, are you with the army, then?"
Walks All Paths spread his hands. "Which army?"
The man peered at him suspiciously. "The army that fights chaos, of course."
Just then Kasee bounded out from behind Eric's protective screen. "What's wrong with chaos?"
The man took one look at her and lashed out with his club. It caught her on the head, right on the temple, and she went down in the snow.
I sighed and said, "Oh, shit." Eric dropped the light effect and we moved forward. I guessed that if he was referring to an army there would be more of them, and we were in unfamiliar territory. I went to Kasee, who was struggling up from the snow and reaching for her sword. I grabbed her arm and said quietly in her ear, "Wait. You startled him. Don't start anything."
She gave me a black look and let go of her sword. Meanwhile, the garou had been placating the other men. I caught the last nit of what he was saying, "...so you see, we strive for balance."
The man who had spoken earlier looked uncertain, then seemed to come to a decision. "Either you are with us, or you must leave here."
Walks All Paths glanced at me. I shrugged. We didn't know if these were the good guys or the bad guys, but it was a start to find out what was what in this world.
The garou nodded and said, "We will join you."
We followed them up over the ridge to see a huge group of men and women trudging along in a long column. We fell in near the end of the line. Kasee muttered that there were 560 people in the army.
A young soldier in front of me looked up with the lack of curiosity that weariness brings. He nodded a tired greeting. "Come to join our cause, eh? That's good. We need everyone we can get. This is it, you know."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"This is the final strike. We launch our final attack on chaos tomorrow. Things have been bad, so this is our last chance. It's about time, too. We've been walking for nigh on twenty days now. I'm ready to have done with it." He turned and continued trudging along.
I looked at his life pattern and was appalled. The boy was no more than fourteen years old, but showed the scars of many wounds, inexpertly healed. If they were drafting them this young, their cause must be in dire straits. I trudged along, lost in my own dark thoughts about war and the price it demands. After an hour or so, we came to a halt and began to set up camp.
The night passed uneventfully. After serving up bowls of a tasteless gruel, the army quickly bedded down in exhaustion. They had to be weary, if they were this far gone the night before the climactic battle. Renee and I stood watch over our small group, with Dog huddled next to me for warmth. The night was bleak, as was my mood. We didn't talk much, the three of us.
In the morning, the army gathered together. There wasn't much order, except that they were all facing a nearby hill. Then, on some unseen order, they gave out a cry and ran for the hill as a mass. Well, everyone except us. No one had told us what to expect, so when they lit out of there, we were left behind.
We followed at a slower pace, concerned now because screams of anguish were coming from over the hill. When we got to the top of the hill, we looked down on a nightmarish scene.
At the bottom of the hill were three figures, two standing and one lying at their feet. I looked at their life patterns and saw that the one lying on the ground was dead. Of the two standing, one was an old man, the other...the other had no life pattern whatsoever. That couldn't be. By the shape of the figure, the person looked to be a young boy or girl, but that was all I could tell. On the slope of the hill before them, the army charged forward, dying as they went. It was their cries that resounded over the valley.
At first, I couldn't tell what was happening - it looked as if they were running, then simply falling down. When I looked at their life patterns, I realized with horror what was happening. Their bodies were getting scrambled as they approached the bottom of the hill. Hearts were replaced by livers, lungs by granite. As I looked closer, I saw that some had parts of animals, dying slowly as their bodies were overloaded by the shock of the changes.
Eric shook his head and said grimly, "Entropy. It's a massive entropy field."
I looked over the carnage in time to see the young figure at the bottom of the hill look up at us. Their hood fell back to reveal Mary's face. She smiled up at us, took a step backwards, and disappeared. The old man who had been kneeling next to her, in supplication perhaps, was quickly overrun and ripped to pieces by the remains of the army. I turned away.